We capitalize a portion of our interest on funds borrowed during the active construction period of major capital projects. Capitalized interest is added to the cost of the underlying assets and amortized over the useful lives of the assets.

The following is a summary of our interest costs for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):

	For the Three Months				For the Nine Months
	Ended September 30,				Ended September 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019

Interest costs charged to expense	$	26,164	$	26,250	$	78,928	$	83,977
Amortization of deferred financing costs		1,484		1,328		4,355		3,901
Accretion of debt discount		3,551		3,116		10,312		12,508
Amortization of debt premium		-		-		-		(1,018	)
Interest expense		31,199		30,694		93,595		99,368
Interest costs capitalized to property and equipment		-		-		-		11
Interest costs capitalized to software		381		188		565		428
Total interest costs	$	31,580	$	30,882	$	94,160	$	99,807